Anthropic's Vision Advantage is a Lot Like Apple's from the 2010s

OpenAI and Google have more than a model problem when competing with Anthropic.

Anthropic right now feels like Apple in the 2010s with the iPhone. And Opus 4.5 is like their iPhone.

The trick is that it's not really about the model, or the phone. It's the ecosystem.

Apple dominated not just because they had better hardware, but because every part of the ecosystem worked seamlessly across different hardware offerings.

Claude Code is kind of like the Apple Ecosystem from the 2010s.

Companies think they're competing with Opus, but they're actually competing with Claude Code's vastly superior user empathy, context management, and a deep understanding of the goal of this AI tech.

Again, very similar to Apple. Apple created a creative, artistic ecosystem where the tech got out of the way and let people make and work.

Anthropic and the Claude Code team are figuring out what work people are actually trying to do, and then working backwards from that.

It's vision-led. And rumors are that Dario is a lot like Jobs as well. Religiously passionate about the mission, and a steamroller when it comes to pursuing it.

So as everyone is thinking about what model OpenAI is about to release, don't fall into that trap. It's not the models.

It's the alignment of what people actually do in their lives with a cohesive ecosystem that helps them do it.

For Anthropic that's embodied by Claude Code right now, and I've yet to see any vision that comes close.